Slow Path
by Shamera
Summary: 'The Future is Hope' continuation and oneshot. If Alyssa was already apprehended and couldn't be the one to assassinate Hope... then what?


Happy birthday, **carbuncle-figurine** - err. Kylie, then. XD; It's just a tiny contribution to the NoeHopu fandom, but I hope you like it!

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"You're still here?"

Maybe Hope shouldn't have been as amused as he was, but watching the young hunter sit quietly with his eyes closed right beside his desk was more than a little endearing. It had been well over a week since Snow had announced that Hope was supposed to be assassinated, and despite the fact that whatever attempt was supposed to happen at least four days ago, with Noel on the case, there had been no attempt.

Maybe, Hope had mused quietly to the younger man as they watched the sunset together that day at the edge of the 400th level of the Academy, just Noel's presence there was enough to change history.

"You're not leaving any time soon," Noel murmured from where he was sitting on the floor with his weapon in hand in front of himself, eyes still closed and looking as if he were asleep if it weren't for the fact that he was responding to questions. "So I'm not leaving any time soon."

Of course he wasn't. It was something they had gone over the past week, the first time on that very first day when Snow had appeared to apprehend Alyssa; when Hope had refused to stop his work just because he might die in three days' time. Noel had been... more than a little irritated that first time, from how incompetent he had found the Academy security to how nonchalant the ex-Director was taking the news of his impending death.

Nonchalant, Hope mused silently. He had been anything but. It didn't mean, however, that he would show his distress, especially with all eyes on him. Those three days had been too important for him to react in any other way. No distress, no retreating, and not even nightmares were allowed in that time. Hope had spent too long learning how to smile to reassure people to ruin it all now.

Still, he had been touched by just how much Noel had bullied the security staff around (albeit he also felt a little bad for the poor guards who had been poorly equipped to deal with that kind of situation. Hope had smiled and asked for the Academy to give Noel as much access as he was getting, seeing as they had both been working on the same goals for nearly four hundred years now). The feeling had intensified as the security staff responded without fail and took to attempting to follow him everywhere and ensure everything was safe before he handled it.

Touched, yes. But it was mere hours before Hope had gotten entirely fed up with it and requested (in such a way that ensured no refusal) to be left on his own.

Which had prompted the first argument from Noel. An argument that came to a screaming halt as Hope refused to divulge just how he remained so calm about the situation. He had refused to say anything until Noel had run out of steam, actually. A tactic he had once used with — Alyssa. It had worked when she just needed to rant and steam about things, although now he wondered if there was something he could have done _differently_...

But six days and fourteen hours after that, Hope was more than a little willing to give way.

The room was already dark, most of the scientists having gone home for the night and the night shift meandering about looking for coffee and perhaps food before they started their work, mostly as habits to get comfortable before settling in for a long night. Hope, however, had been there since early morning and he had no intention on stopping before he was done with his forward momentum. No one halted the creative process, and for him, it was only a break to check his surroundings because his data was being processed at the moment.

Which meant he found himself crouching next to the base of his desk where Noel was seated, both tired and fond as he attempted to prod the hunter to get some rest. He pressed a hand against his desk and winced as his knees cracked loudly in protest, having been standing around various computer terminals for most of the day.

Noel cracked open an eye at the sound, his lips quirking up in amusement. "Sounds like you're getting old."

Four days ago, Hope wouldn't have dignified that with a response.

Funny how things changed so fast.

"You can tell that to the senior advisers tomorrow," Hope quipped, watching in amusement as Noel back-pedalled quickly in his expression, cringing back just the slightest. It had been humorous to realise that despite his fearlessness in battle and where he felt it was needed, the first Academy meeting he had to attend where Noel had stayed in the shadows quiet and unnoticed for four hours... the brunet had pleaded Hope not go to any more of those at the end of it.

Apparently, the meetings were 'boring' and variations thereof that Hope didn't deign polite to repeat.

"Don't see how you get anything done when you have to go to those meetings," Noel grumbled, shrinking back against the desk in a manner more like the teenager he was. "They take forever and nothing gets done during them. No one agrees on anything."

That wasn't exactly the point Hope had been trying to make, seeing as the rest of the advisers were in their late thirties at the youngest, some spanning to their seventies because they loved working at the Academy so much that their retirement was being an advisor.

On second hand, it _did_ make him feel old despite being the youngest in the group by well over a decade.

"That's how politics work."

Especially since the Academy was the de facto governing body now. It meant that every decision had to be debated and contested and then passed through several department heads, directors, and approved by the advisers.

Hope didn't remember the process being that complicated back in 13AF, but then again... it had been a different world then. The provisional government had taken care of the majority of the problems back then in order to allow the Academy room to progress in scientifically. While it had meant that Hope had to run things through the provisional government at all times back then, it had been simpler somehow. He could tell what would be approved easily enough beforehand. Now... it really _was_ an argument during each meeting. One he usually stayed quiet for unless his opinion was directly asked for, seeing as Hope had very little idea how things worked four hundred years in the future.

The title of advisor, he had found, was more because the Academy hadn't wanted to let him go. Even now, there were researchers who smiled at him and greeted him as 'Director'.

Noel snorted, and closed his eyes again, resting against the back of the desk comfortably. "...Too many rules. I don't see why the regulations on sheep herding can be that important."

They had spoken about that before, but the nuances of how one tiny thing could influence everything else was lost on Noel when the hunter didn't quite understand just why the Academy needed all its regulations, especially when it was already a fully functional society that people were happy in. And being completely honest, Hope wasn't sure how he was supposed to advise on topics like that, either, so his statements trying to get Noel to understand were a bit weak.

Mostly he had found himself sitting back and nodding, sneaking a tablet under the table to get more work done. Work that he knew how to do.

Hope's expression softened. "If you're tired, you should go back home. Get to bed."

"And leave you here by yourself? No way."

"It's been four days."

"And what? If they're lying low, then the moment I leave is the moment they attack."

It was the same conversation they'd been having the past week, and by now all the heat had gone out of Hope's words. It was nothing more than a gentle reminder now. "I can take care of myself, you know. And I'm not by myself."

"A bunch of security grunts and paper pushers," Noel grumbled. He had taken to the slang of 400AF surprisingly well after a few terms had been explained to him. "Yeah, you're safe here, alright."

Hope sighed. He wasn't the only one who could conveniently ignore parts of statements. "You'll fall asleep tomorrow during the meeting if you stay here. Go _home_, Noel."

It was bad enough that most of the other advisers didn't think that Noel should be in the room during the meeting, despite being fully supportive of the former Director Estheim having a bodyguard against potential assassination attempts. They had been miffed at the thought of a traitor hiding amongst them, or any of them being a threat at all.

Unexpectedly, Noel grinned at that last part, and then reached out without opening his eyes to pull Hope closer by his free arm, making the older man stumble before catching himself against the desk, one knee skimming the floor.

"Noel, what—?"

"Say it again?"

"Say what?" Hope demanded, although he knew exactly what the brunet was talking about. It was the grip that Noel kept on his arm which prompted the next words. "You'll fall asleep?"

Noel's grin didn't diminish. "No, the other thing."

"...Go home, Noel."

Blue eyes blinked open and stared up at him earnestly with faux innocence. "_Home._ That's right. But only if you're coming, too."

"I have a few more things to do tonight—"

Noel tilted his head toward where there was a dimly lit group of four others surrounding another terminal on the other side of the room, taking no notice to them at all. It was something that Hope had been questioned about — how everyone there were so absorbed in their research and work that they wouldn't even notice if the world was crumbling down around them. He had explained that the people who worked here didn't have to be constantly observant in case wild Behemoths attacked or whatnot. That was the beauty of Academia, and really, the benefit of living in a large city; people _can_ engross themselves in their work and lose track of the world around them.

It helped to get more work done, but also meant that barely anyone ever took notice of their conversations.

"Let them handle it. That's what they're here for, right? I'm not the only one who's going to fall asleep tomorrow if I stay." He finally let up on his grip, although he never let go of Hope's arm. "If you stay, then I stay. You need rest too, _Director_."

Not for the first time, Hope found himself grateful for the dim lighting that was meant to not overpower the lighting on some projects in the room. Whether it was because it meant the no one else would take notice of them (and it wasn't until now that he realized just how awkward their position might look to others), and also so that his flush wouldn't be noticed as much... although judging from Noel's grin, he had already seen.

He thought about the reports and the calculations he still had to look through. Despite having a hundred years until the new Cocoon went up, Hope had imposed more than a few strict deadlines for himself. He had to, in order to make that final hundred year deadline. There were too many things to see, to read, and to correct, before he could rest.

"...Twenty minutes." He relented under Noel's gaze. "Just another twenty minutes."

The grip on his arm tightened for just a moment before it was gone. "I'll hold you to that."

This time as Hope got up again from where his knees were protesting his position, Noel reached to stretch his arms above him, rolling his neck before breathing out a sigh of relief before pushing himself up into a standing position as well, sheathing his swords again behind him.

"How's all of—" Noel waved vaguely toward the terminal as Hope went back to check on the data. "that, going?"

"It's going well." Hope responded, already having learned that Noel would just nod and give him a blank look if he tried to explained the process to him in more detail than that. "We're slightly ahead of schedule, but not by much. Things of significance should be done within the next two days."

As much as he disliked the idea that there were details that may not be as significant... It was true. There was only so many things he could cover.

"So two days and then we'll be on our way." Noel leaned against the terminal behind Hope, arms crossed as he squinted at the letters that streamed across the hologram endlessly.

"Yes." His fingertips hesitated above the glowing terminal and he looked back at the hunter. "...You could always take the short-cut."

There was only so much that Hope could do after he finished overseeing the preparations, after all. With all the effort that he had put into this project, he was going to risk another trip in the time capsule to see the new Cocoon go up. There was nothing else he could do in 400AF.

He wasn't sure what there would be left for him after the new Cocoon went up in 500AF, either. After everything was over...

Would the others come back?

Maybe he was worrying too much about things beyond his control. Hope would have to let it all play out and see what could be done before he started laying out plans.

"Nah." Noel waved his concerns off. "The short-cut lane is getting a bit crowded. Your way's a new experience."

"It's... a bit boring."

"I can do boring. But I think you're underestimating yourself. Time travel is fascinating. Not many people can say they've done it, and even less can say that they did it without divine help."

His fingers curled slightly in embarrassment. It wasn't credit he could take when Alyssa had been the one to pioneer most of that technology while he had been busy with overseeing everything, but now... She had been under observation in her cell for the past week, growing more and more agitated. He had attempted to visit her several times, only to have Alyssa react with violence in his presence.

He didn't know how he had missed just how much she hated him. She had readily admitted to him before (laughingly, even) that she thought it best to lie about little things in order to make things better, and Hope hadn't been able to entirely disagree with her even if that wasn't his way, but he had never thought that her smiles would be so false. How had he not _seen_ enough to help her?

She had been his friend, and one of his closest confidants.

"Hey." It must have been too easy to see just where his thoughts had gone, seeing as Noel shoved his way into his line of sight. "That was a compliment. No need to think too much about it."

He mustered up a smile for the brunet, hands still lingering over the hologram as the numbers continued to increase. "It's dangerous, you know. Doesn't always work."

"You go, I go."

It was something that Noel had been repeated the past several days, as if drilling the message inside Hope's head.

Four days ago when Hope had woken in a panic, convinced from a dream that he was already dead, Noel had been there. Quiet and watchful, with a hand on his shoulder to wake him from the nightmare. That had been when — well, Hope hadn't been able to get his defences up in time when his hands were still shaking with the images of blood and Alyssa's furious eyes glaring at him over the barrel of a gun. He had sat up and buried his face in the palms of his hands, curling up with his knees to his chest in an attempt to calm down and stop the shaking. A dream was just a dream, after all, even if it had hurt so much more to think that his assassination could be in the hands of someone he had trusted with his life implicitly; someone with whom he had worked with for nearly ten years on a daily basis.

Hope had trusted Alyssa the most out of all his colleagues. She might have been the closest he would have considered a friend in those lonely years growing up and then perfecting the demeanour of a perfect scientist. She had been the one to remind him that he had a life beyond the office and laboratory, and to know that she actually hated him enough to want him dead...

Noel had sat with him for nearly an hour before asking what the dream had been about.

He hadn't been _prepared_.

So many years of learning to hide away his insecurities and negative emotions, until he stopped being _angry_ at the world, and Hope realized after that perfecting the calm demeanour held a price he hadn't expected: there had been no one he could talk to. He played the part of the benevolent director for so long that Hope found himself blank when faced with his own negativity and darkness.

And it was that admission that cracked the dam of insecurity and guilt for him to start talking about just how he felt about people leaving him, people betraying him, and having to be impassive through the ordeals because there was nothing else he could be anymore.

That was who he had become.

It was Noel who ended up calling in sick for him that morning, shouting through the phone because he wasn't sure how to use it and '_**Yes**__, I can speak for Hope and he's not coming in!'_ because, as Noel had ranted to him afterward, the voices over the phone had actually doubted his ability to speak for 'Mr. Estheim'.

Hope had ended up going to work that afternoon anyway, despite a grumbling Noel tagging close behind.

But they had talked that morning, more than Hope thought he was capable of, all in the dark hours before sunrise. From questions to shaky words to confessions of wondering if he knew how to function with other people and whether he had been the one to mess up with Alyssa on the way, Hope hadn't been able to throw up his walls before Noel had prodded them loose.

They were, Hope had found out in the dark of that morning, both ones to be left behind. Both of them had trouble functioning in a society with other people. Noel because he hadn't grown up with enough people and because he never had to chance to learn how to deal with a crowd, and Hope because he had closed himself off after the fall of Cocoon and everyone he cared about started disappearing.

Both of them were used to being alone or having only one person to truly care about. But the difference (at least in Hope's head) was, as he had inadvertently pointed out, Noel could still go with Serah and Snow later on. He could go to any time and any place, and Hope would once again be left behind.

At that point, he hadn't been willing to let himself be hurt again by the idea of caring for someone and then being left behind, even if Noel was already one of the few he considered a friend.

Noel had looked so surprised by that.

'_No.'_ He had said in response that morning while they were standing around by the kitchenette where Hope was waiting for the coffee to brew, looking exceptionally serious. '_I'll go where you go.'_

It was a promise he had kept diligently, reminding Hope of it every chance he got.

Even now.

"Hey." Noel's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "Looks like it's done. How about we get dinner before heading home?"

Hope blinked, and sure enough, the analysis program before him was flashing a hundred percent completion.

_Home_. Yes. That was a word he hadn't used very often for a long time. And a word that apparently Noel hadn't been able to use at all since he started travelling.

He turned his head to look at Noel with a smile. "Take out? You make it sound like you don't like my cooking."

"I didn't say that. But you need sleep and I, uh. I think your stove hates me."

"Maybe if you hadn't tried to _set it on fire_ that time—" He couldn't even argue that the stove, for an inanimate object, seemed to hold a grudge against Noel and spontaneously burst his pots into flames even with Hope there to instruct him on just what to do.

"You need fire to cook food! There wasn't a fire; how I was supposed to know you guys have this weird thing where you cook without fire — even Serah and her friends cooked with fire!"

The shut-down process for the terminal was easy enough, especially since it wasn't an entire shut down (the computers in the Academy continued working even when people grew tired, after all) but rather a log out to ensure that his data would be untouched by the time he returned in the morning. Hope felt his lips quirk into a genuine smile even as he rolled his eyes at his companion.

"Fine. Take out. Honestly, Noel, first it's getting me to work less, and now it's instant foods—" Because ever since the hunter had discovered fast foods, Hope hadn't been able to get a word in otherwise about where and what to eat.

"Pizza! Alright, then, we'll go for pizza."

"Are you even listening to me?"

A few heads turned in their direction as Hope asked that, and he felt himself glance down in embarrassment before raising his gaze to their amused smiles.

"Good night, Mr. Estheim." Some of them murmured quietly with smiles as the two of them passed, and Hope repeated the 'good night' as well as he passed.

"We've got two days to try all the food here before we leave. Might as well start getting to it."

Hope waved politely as the receptionist on their way out of the building, and then turned his full attention to Noel, surprised to find blue eyes already staring intently at him. "It might still be there."

"A hundred years later? Even if it is, it would have changed!"

"You know," Hope mentioned casually as they stepped out into the cool night air. The streets were bright with lights from signs and stores still open, drowning out the stars. "You could always come back here if you really want to. I'm sure there will be a gate in 500AF as well."

"Yeah, I'm not leaving you. Good try, though." The hunter looked out into the bright stores, and then back toward the scientist with a smirk. "Unless the pizza is _really_ good. Then I might consider it."

"You'd leave me for pizza?" Hope couldn't muster the indignation past the amusement in his voice.

"_Really good_ pizza. And yes, yes I might. Just for a while. You wouldn't even notice I'm gone."

"So you'd leave me for pizza and then come back before I notice you're gone." His attempt at keeping his tone flat was failing, he could tell. "That's called cheating, you know."

"That's called bringing it back for you, Hope!"

"You'd bring me a slice?"

"I'd bring the whole pizza back for you. We can eat it together."

Hope brought a hand to his mouth in an attempt to hide his smile. "Fine. Pizza."

"Alright!" Noel cheered, slamming a fist into his hand in victory. "You can leave all your work behind now. We're going out to get _pizza._"

Laughing lightly, Hope followed Noel into the crowd. He'd leave his worries over the uncertain future at the Academy, because right now...

He wasn't alone. Things would be all right.

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